Laying floors and claddings composed of wall tiles, paving tiles or medium and large slabs with reduced or lowered thickness typically presents major difficulties in the steps of planarization of the laying and of equal spacing of the tiles in order to define the gaps.
At present, leveling spacers are known for laying wall tiles, paving tiles and the like which are constituted by a base, which is arranged below two tiles that are side by side. From such base spacing protrusions extend, which are substantially shaped like parallelepipeds, so as to define the width of the gaps. Such spacing protrusions in fact define abutments for the edges of the tiles.
By arranging, for example, two leveling spacers at each side of a tile, preferably proximate to each one of the corner edges, the desired levelness is obtained for such tile, and at the same time the correct positioning is sought with respect to the tiles that surround it and that are also laid with other, identical leveling spacers.
From the base of the leveling spacer a flat tab extends, which extends out of the channel formed between the tiles which defines the gap, and is provided with an opening for the insertion, between the surface of the tile and the upper edge of the opening itself, of a tile immobilization wedge.
Such wedge immobilization system has two functions.
A first function is to immobilize the edges of the adjacent tiles between the wedge and the base of the leveling spacer, thus ensuring a coplanar arrangement during the laying of the tiles. The second function is to enable the removal of the tabs from the respective bases when the gaps are to be defined.
In fact by striking the wedge in the direction of insertion in the opening, said tab is torn from its base.
Another, similar leveling spacer device has, extending from the base with spacers, a perforated strap-like tenon, which is designed to be inserted in an immobilizing body which in turn is adapted to be pressed so as to straddle the two laterally adjacent edges of the neighboring tiles.
Such leveling spacers, although widespread and appreciated, are not devoid of drawbacks.
For the first type of leveling spacer, which uses a wedge for immobilization and removal, a main drawback consists in that the removal of the tab by way of striking the wedge is not simply and immediately executed, because the system, although purportedly designed to effect the striking action on the wedge by way of one or more kicks delivered with the toe of a foot, in practice requires a special and very specific intervention with a hammer, and such intervention is relatively slow in execution when evaluated in its entirety, i.e. considering that it has to be repeated for all the leveling spacers used for laying an entire floor.
Moreover it has been found that striking the wedges in a direction parallel to the arrangement of the tiles can cause an unwanted shifting of the tiles themselves, which are pushed by the tab which in turn is driven by the struck wedge.
For the second type of leveling spacer described above, which uses a strap, the main drawback is linked to the fact that the correct and useful coupling between the strap and the immobilizing body for immobilizing the tiles between the immobilizing body and the base of the spacer is to be achieved by means of an adapted utensil for thrust and traction, which is designed especially to hold the strap and at the same time push the immobilizing body against the tiles.
Such use of an adapted utensil requires the availability of the utensil itself, and a certain period of time both for laying and for removal, since the same utensil is used for the removal of the strap from the base by traction of the strap.